What if my Fairphone gets stolen or lost?

November 13, 2018 08:51

We hope your Fairphone never gets lost or stolen, reality unfortunately shows otherwise. So we recommend you prepare your Fairphone in advance and take extra security measures to avoid tragedies. This way you can prevent identity theft, data loss (the pictures of your first born for example) and unauthorised calling.

It is important to prepare your Fairphone in advance, so before you lose your new smartphone. Read on to find out how easy it is to render the Fairphone unusable for other parties.

Use a screen lock, with either PIN, Password or pattern. You can activate this via Settings → Security → Choose screen lock

Set up a lock screen message with an alternative contact in case someone finds your Fairphone and wants to return it. This contact can be an email address or the phone number of your significant other. Do do this:go to Settings → Security → tap the cogwheel icon to the right side of Screen lock → tap Lock screen message(For Android 6 it is: Settings → Security → Lock screen message , but we recommend to switch to Android 7)

Use a Sim card lock. Settings → Security → Set up SIM card lock → Lock SIM card and move the slider to On

Have all information of your Fairphone in a safe place: order number and IMEI numbers. You will need them to file a police report and to report with us

Android and others offer special security options and apps. These will help you locate and lock your phone and delete your data remotely in the event that it ends up in the wrong hands. Read on for more explanation on the Android options

Android Device manager

You can find out the location of a lost or stolen Android device with Google's Android Device Manager. With the Device manager, you can also remotely tell the device to ring as well as erase all its data. Very convenient when you lost your Fairphone 2 in the snow at 3.30 AM, or when someone has stolen your device. On top of that, you can remotely lock your password and send a new password via this service. This way others will have no access to your device anymore.

Please note

The following recommendations need a Google account, and you have to log in with this account on your device

When you turn on Location, Google collects location data from your devices. Device location is approximate, and may not always be accurate. Google has more information about managing the local setting of your account

Device manager will not work for devices that are turned off or that do not have a Wi-Fi or mobile data connection with an active SIM card.

To be able to do all this, you need to let your Fairphone 2 know its location.

Fairphone 1(U) (running on Android 4.2)

Open the swipe menu and swipe from the right edge of the screen to the left to find the All apps icon

Via All apps, open the Device Manager app. Sign in using (one of your) Google accounts

Once in, you can also check via other Google accounts you might have too. Check the options to remotely locate or lock your device or delete the data by a Factory reset .

Lost or stolen Fairphone

Track or block your phone from a distance with apps and services you can install or activate in advance. We are unable to track your phone, that is something the police can do

When you use Android Device Manager, open it up via another Android device or browse to the Android Device Manager web site. There, you can locate your device when the location is On

To send a new lock code, click on the Lock button. Enter and confirm the new password and then click on the Lock button. From now on, your device asks to key in the new password to access the device

To make your phone audible, click on the Ring button. The device will ring at full volume for five minutes

To perform a Factory reset so your personal data will be erased, click on the Erase button. After you erase the device, Android Device Manager will no longer work on it

Contact the local police and file a police report. Provide them with as much information as possible. Do not attempt to retrieve the device yourself

You will need the IMEI 1 and 2. With Fairphone 1(U) you can find them underneath the battery. On a Fairphone 2, they are printed on the side of the Core module (take off the protective cover). With all phones, you can also find the IMEI numbers on the bottom of the original white box

Contact us so we can register it in our stolen phone list, which is the best we can do on our side. We consult this list when we encounter a phone without order number. We too need your IMEI 1 and IMEI 2 and your order number to do this